About the festival
“I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” Hamlet.
This is our stay at home festival where, like all good festivals, we’ll be experimenting and developing new ideas. And there is lots of audience participation. Of course there is a silver lining to every cloud and, with our new stay-at-home regime, the world will come to you and you don’t even have to change out of your pyjamas. Listen to our lectures, join the bookclub, and try your hand at writing. There are masses of wonderful activities too for children and the young-at-heart – all with a history twist (we thank Cheryl Griffin and Katrin Strohl for creating these wonderfully creative and nostalgic worksheets). We are also promoting other historical societies’ events as that old problem of being geographically impossible has just melted away.
We are uploading new activities constantly so check back in soon. Click on the words or the images to take you to more information.
History Writer’s Group
The History Writers Group met for the first time in February – in real time – at the Drill Hall. We’re a group of sixteen, working on a wide variety of projects and learning from each other as we go. After a very successful first meeting, we took to Zoom for our March get-together when about half the group were able to meet online and discuss our theme that day – writing for different audiences. Others were defeated by the technology and couldn’t join us, but we keep in touch by email and we’re determined to support each other as we work towards seeing our various projects through to finished projects.
Each month, our convenor, Cheryl Griffin, sets a writing task based on one of the many wonderful images in the RHSV’s collection. In May the focus is on picnics (yearning for summer already!). In March it was the photograph of the ‘Paris end’ of Collins Street in 1959. And in April is the photo of Sands & McDougall’s work room.
There have been some wonderful entries for March and April which we’ve uploaded to this page (keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page). Historian, Lucy Bracey, has kindly agreed to judge the submissions and Lucy’s choice each month gets a copy of Melbourne’s Twenty Decades sent to them.
Task
Your writing challenge
#Picnic Photo
Click on the image to download the full PDF of picnics. There are many wonderful details in Cheryl’s picnic photos, so perhaps you’d like to write a short piece describing one of the photos? Or maybe you could imagine you are one of the people in the photo and write about what you are thinking. You have between 300 and 500 words to play with and you can write about it in any way you like. If you are happy to add your story to our Writing Group collection – we’ll publish it below.
Or maybe you’d like to write about one of your picnic photos. We’d love to hear some of your stories so, now its your turn.
Submit your writing to:
office@historyvictoria.org.au
Happy creativity!
[Image from Cheryl Griffin’s collection]
Have. Some. Fun.
Picnics: food, glorious food enjoyed in the great outdoors – Creative Writing Submissions
Awaiting your Submission
Dad, are we there yet? Mum, I’m bored?
A collection of great resources to keep the children entertained.
Andy Griffiths
In an article from The Age (11 April) Andy Griffiths has some great suggestions to keep children happy and engaged. Create a family book – a journal, a collection of memorabilia, draw cartoons, make lists – annoying things about you / 3 good things that happened today etc. Collecting things whether it is blue things, bubblegum wrappers or first editions – always fun. Writing letters and cards, drawing pictures for family members that the kids can’t see. Let the kids make videos of themselves cooking etc to share with grandparents. As Andy says, “Creativity is actually a refuge. It’s a wonderful place to go, almost like reality … it’s a place to hide.”
“I can vividly remember sitting with my mother and sister under the stairs, happily crayoning on the walls with the flickering light of two candles whilst the occasional explosion of a dropped bomb made the whole house shudder.” John, one of our RHSV volunteers now in his 80s, recalls his early childhood in England.
Download the PDF (click on the image) to read lots more WWII memories from Australia and the UK.
Our quizmeister, Peter Munro, inspired by the muse of poetry has couched his centenary quiz in rhyming couplets. Your challenge this week is to find the missing information (by my calculation there are 13 answers needed) in the above poem. The winner will be sent a copy of Melbourne’s Twenty Decades and, when we have a winner, the answers will be added to the quiz questions here on our website.
Download the PDF (click on the image or the button below) to start your quiz.
Good luck!
Gerry Gee, is a ventriloquist puppet who teamed up in 1956 with Ron Blaskett, only four days before GTV9’s (Channel 9) first live test broadcast from Mt Dandenong. Gerry was imported from the US at a cost £200 and was named after the station. The comedy duo became household names as much as any Aussie entertainer, on radio and TV, on The Tarax Show, IMT (In Melbourne Tonight) and Young Talent Time. The act travelled the world together, playing to millions at the 1975 Toronto Expo, Cyclone Tracey victims in Darwin and Diggers in Vietnam.Gerry Gee and Ron Blaskett retired together after career spanning 56 years, Aussie TV’s first and foremost ventriloquist duo!
Learn how to be a ventriloquist and how to make your own simple puppet – download the Gerry Gee activity sheet.
Who didn’t grow up wanting to be Annie Oakley? OK. Possibly not the boys. But I still hanker after my white fringed, red vinyl Annie Oakley Bolero jacket with its big silver stars. Click on the image to download or this text to download some great activities.
Black jets, lightning bolts, cats eyes, jaffas – who didn’t covet marbles? Click on the image to download or this text to download some great marbles activities.
There is a great free app which allows you to create your own electronic jigsaws – find your most complicated old photos and go wild. Be warned this is addictive. Click on the image or text
Have you felt the thrill of adding to a collection? It is absolutely addictive. And doesn’t have to be expensive. Who remembers their mother’s collection of hand-written recipes? Or buttons? Click on the image to download or this text to download some great collecting activities.
Ring Ring Why Don’t Give Me A Call? And doesn’t have to be expensive. Who needs to be beholden to Telstra when you have two tins and a piece of string? Click on the image to download or this text to download for instructions on how to make your telephone! And a great puzzle here too. (Apologies to Abba)
Task
Your creativity challenge
#Great Toy Activities
Do you have a favourite doll or toy? Open this great PDF full of great toy activities (other than just playing with them!) – there are lots of links and some activities to download too. And don’t forget to email us your creativity (office@historyvictoria.org.au). Have fun!
Submit your creativity to:
office@historyvictoria.org.au
Happy creativity!
Plan. Design. Create.
Activities on our website
Local playwright, Hannie Rayson, had a wonderful column in The Age on Sat 11 April. She describes a Zoom family gathering where the rule was everyone had to tell a 3 minute story about the family. The result was fabulous – from stories about Uncle Ewan and the shark at Brighton Pier, to Mama’s 2-4-6-8 cake recipe and her mum’s story about being in isolation at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital with diptheria in 1933. The meeting went on for 2.5 hours and the family were transfixed. The stories were tender, tragic and funny. Give it a go in your family.
Local playwright, Hannie Rayson, had a wonderful column in The Age on Sat 11 April. She describes a Zoom family gathering where the rule was everyone had to tell a 3 minute story about the family. The result was fabulous – from stories about Uncle Ewan and the shark at Brighton Pier, to Mama’s 2-4-6-8 cake recipe and her mum’s story about being in isolation at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital with diptheria in 1933. The meeting went on for 2.5 hours and the family were transfixed. The stories were tender, tragic and funny. Give it a go in your family.
Bookclub. Join our virtual bookclub each second Tuesday of every month from 5:30pm – 7pm. Our next book is Jill Giese’s The Maddest Place on Earth and we are delighted that Jill will be joining us on Tuesday 12 May.
At the bottom of our home page we will be putting up an ever-changing list of other historical societies’ digital events and guess what? They are all available no matter where you live! Silver linings in every cloud.
Need to get some fresh air and exercise? We have two self-guided heritage walking tours around the NW corner of the CBD.
Our Melbourne’s Twenty Decades quiz had every one scratching their heads in April 2020. The quiz, with the answers on page 2, is attached as a PDF. The winner was Jennifer McCoy who has been sent a copy of Melbourne’s Twenty Decades. We thank our member and quizmesiter, Peter Munro for devising these fiendish quizes.
We have some great podcasts of previous lectures from the RHSV archive available for your enjoyment.
Other Historical Organisation Resources and Tips
Eltham District Historical Society distributed some great guidelines to starting a family history (start interviewing those of your family still alive – and include yourself!).
Thanks to MyHeritage for this template.
Join the Melbourne History Workshop in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne in documenting these challenging times in Melbourne and around the globe. We are working with Arizona State University and others by acting not just as historians, but as chroniclers, recorders, memoirists, as image collectors.
We invite you to share your experience and impressions of how CoVid19 has affected our lives, from the mundane to the extraordinary, including the ways things haven’t changed at all.
Share your story in text, images, video, tweets, texts, Facebook posts, Instagram or Snapchat memes, and screenshots of the news and emails – anything that speaks to paradoxes of the moment. Imagine, as we are, what future historians might need to write about and understand this historical moment.
Task
Your writing challenge
#Sands & McDougall Work Room Photo
Why not try your hand at writing about this Sands & McDougall work room photograph? You have between 300 and 500 words to play with and you can write about it in any way you like. If you are happy to add your story to our Writing Group collection – we’ll publish it below.
Submit your writing to:
office@historyvictoria.org.au
Happy creativity!
[Image from RHSV collection. Image BL012-0027]
Have. Some. Fun.
Task
Your writing challenge
#Paris End Collins Street Photo
Why not try your hand at writing about this Collins Street photograph? You have between 300 and 500 words to play with and you can write about it in any way you like. If you are happy to add your story to our Writing Group collection – we’ll publish it below.
Submit your writing to:
office@historyvictoria.org.au
Happy creativity!
[Image credit: Pierre Robin photographer. RHSV collection. Image TRA-R-140]
Have. Some. Fun.
Collins Street Photo – Creative Writing Submissions
Writing submitted by Kitty Owens
Kitty Owens is one of our talented Writing Group members.
239 A'Beckett Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 
03 9326 9288 
office@historyvictoria.org.au 
Office & Library: Weekdays 9am-5pm
